Thirty-second Sunday after Pentecost &
Fifteenth Sunday of Luke
Venerable Maximos the Confessor
January 21, 2018
St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
Lowell, Massachusetts
ST. GEORGE ANTIOCHIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
The Most Reverend Metropolitan JOSEPH Archbishop of New York and Metropolitan of All North America
The Right Revered Bishop JOHN, Diocese of Worcester and New England
Rt. Rev. Archmandrite Leonard Faris Pastor of St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church
Email: [email protected] 44 Bowers Street Phone: (978) 452-4816
Lowell, MA 01854 Fax: (978) 452-6041 Web: www.saintgeorgelowell.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/saintgeorgelowell
WORSHIP SERVICE
Sunday: Matins (Orthros) Service 9:00 a.m. Sunday School: Every other Sunday, 9:30 a.m. to 10:15 a.m.
Divine Liturgy 10:00 a.m. Church Office Hours;: Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 a.m. and we should not arrive late. When we do arrive late and the Epistle or Gos-pel is being read or the priest is preaching the sermon or the Great Entrance is taking place, please REMAIN in the Vestibule until it is finished before entering the Church. At the end of the Divine Liturgy please keep your con-versation until the “Coffee Hour”. We should leave the Church in silence.
Important Notice: The reception of Holy Communion is limited to Orthodox Christians who have prepared them-selves by prayer, fasting and recent Confession. Confessions are heard on Sunday mornings during the Matins Ser-vice or by special appointment. The Eucharistic Fast begins at midnight on Saturday and ends up with the receiv-ing of Holy Communion. If you are on medication or a young child, you can have a light breakfast before coming
to church. If you have any questions, please call Fr. Leonard.
Thank you, Father Leonard Prayer Requests and Bulletin News: All prayer requests and articles for the weekly bulletin must be submitted each week by Noon, Tuesday: emailed to Fr. Leonard at [email protected] or call 978-452-4816, otherwise,
the requests and articles will be published the following week.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
If anyone is in the hospital it is the duty of the family to inform the priest so that he can visit the patient. Al-so, if anyone is homebound and would like to receive Holy Communion, he/she or a family member should contact Fr. Leonard to make arrangements to bring the Sacrament to the shut-in. Fr. Leonard is always hap-py to bring the Sacraments to those in Hospitals, Nursing Homes or at home. Thank you and God bless!
Troparion of the Resurrection, Tone 8 From the heights Thou didst descend, O Compassionate One, and Thou
didst submit to the three-day burial, that Thou might deliver us from passion; Thou art our Life and our resurrection: O Lord, glory to thee!
Entrance Hymn
Ha-lum-mu li-nas-jud, wa-nar-ka’ lil-ma-sih, khal-lis-na ya bna l-lah,
ya man qa-ma min bal-nil-am-wat, li-nu-rat-til la-ka, Hal-li-lu-ia
Troparion of the Resurrection, Tone 8 (repeated)
Troparion of St. Maximos the Confessor, Tone 8
Thou hast shown thyself, O God-inspired Maximos, as a guide to the
Orthodox Faith, a teacher of true worship and purity; O star of the universe and companion of the bishops, O wise one. Through thy light thou
hast enlightened all, O harp of the spirit. Therefore, intercede with Christ God to save our souls.
Troparion of St. George, Tone 4 As deliver of captives and defender of the poor, healer of the infirmed,
champion of kings, victorious great martyr George, intercede with Christ
our God, for our souls’ salvation.
Kontakion of the Presentation of Christ, Tone 1
Thou, O Christ God, Who by Thy Birth, didst sanctify the Virgin’s womb, and, as is meet, didst bless Simeon’s arms, and didst also come to save us;
preserve Thy fold in wars, and confirm them whom Thou didst love, for Thou alone art the Lover of mankind.
THE EPISTLE
The Lord will give strength to His people. Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of God; ascribe to the Lord honor and glory.
The Reading from the First Epistle of St. Paul to St. Timothy. (4:9-15)
Timothy, my son, the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance. For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living
God, Who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. Com-mand and teach these things. Let no one despise your youth, but set the be-lievers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I
come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophetic utter-ance when the council of elders laid their hands upon you. Practice these
duties; devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress.
THE GOSPEL
The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke. (19:1-10) At that time, Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. And
there was a man named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and rich. And he sought to see Who Jesus was, but could not, on account of the crowd, because he was small of stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a
sycamore tree to see Jesus, for He was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he made haste and
came down, and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it they all mur-mured, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zac-chaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give
to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also
is a son of Abraham; for the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Prayers are being offered for the Health and Safety of:
Nora Abdelahad Najeeb Abeaad Connie Abodeely
Lorice Ansara Phyllis Arsenault
Siham Bahou June Behrakis Ed & Lillian Betor
David and Cindy Boragine Ida Boragine Miriam Calache George Ellis
Mr. & Mrs. Elias Grivas Veronique, Annabelle & Chloe
Groff Duayne Habib Rosalind Hajjar & Family
Mary Howie Dorothea Husson Lloyd Jennings Joe Kadir Nabil Khoury
Fr. Stephen and Family Rose Lowe
Marcotte Family Thomas Marcotte
Fred Noonan Paul & Lillian Panagopoulos Eric Soucy Amad Tayebi Jack Trottier
Dr. Vartan & Lisa Yeghiazarians & Family
Genia Yeghiazarians Nahil Zananiri
Prayers are being offered in Memory of:
Charles Abdelahad George Abodeely
Miriam Abodeely Mazen Alwarad Toula Anasoulis Andrew Ansara
Elias Ansara John Ansara Maurice Ansara Gladys Assaly Linda Assaly
Yaacoub Awad Juliette Bahou Laurice Bahou Widad Batten James “Jimmy” Beaudry
Mary Bogosian Dorothy Boragine Sal Boragine Cleopatra Bouras
Sofie & Paul Brown Toma Calache Dr. Christos Daoulas Fred Ead
Frances Ellis
Frank Ellis George & Elsie Faris Mary V. Faris Connie & Sal Fumia Elizabeth & Joseph
Ghareeb John & Irene Gkolias George P. Habib Philip Hajjar
MAY THEIR MEMORIES BE ETERNAL!!
Eleanor Husson N. Mary Husson
Terry Husson Kadir Emtisal & Musalam Kazmeh Siham Khadij George Lowe
Efthymios & Paraskevi Manolis George Matook Nafie Moses Frederick & Matilda Noonan Anisse Saad
Hanna Saad Mary Saati George W. & Mary Saba Badwi Sabbouh Freda Sadak
Veto & Vasiliki Selvagio James Demetri Sarantos Eleanor Shalhoup Fred Simon
Judy Skaff Mildred & Arthur Skaff Minnie Skaff Nellie Husson Skaff
Ricky Skaff
Stephen Skaff T. Michael Skaff Edmond Solomon J. B. Taleb Elaine Viera
Leon Yeghiazarians Charles Zaharias Mary Ann Zaharias
MEMORIALS - Next Sunday - January 28th
A 16 Year Memorial Service will be offered for the repose of the Soul of the Handmaid of God, Alma Habib, Godmother
of Fr. Leonard and a 15 Year Memorial Service will be offered for the
repose of the Soul of the Servant of God, George Habib, cousin of Fr. Leonard, requested by Fr. Leonard. May their memories be eternal.
THIS WEEK
Fri. 1/26 6:30 pm Ladies Meeting in the Church Hall
COFFEE HOUR
No Coffee Hour is being sponsored today. For those interested in signing up to host a coffee hour please put your name and the reason
your are hosting it on the calendar in the back of the hall. If no one sponsors a coffee hour there will NOT be any for that day. Please see
Fr. Leonard if you have any questions.
St. Maximus the Confessor
Our venerable and God-bearing Father Maximus the Confessor (ca. 580-662) was an
Orthodox Christian monk and ascetical writer known especially for his courageous fight
against the heresy of Monothelitism.
He was born in the region of Constantinople, was well educated, and spent some time in
government service before becoming a monk, having been a member of the old Byzan-
tine aristocracy and holding the post of Imperial Secretary under Emperor Heraclius.
Around 614, he became a monk (later abbot) at the monasteryof Chrysopolis. During the
Persian invasion of the Empire (614), he fled to Africa.
From about 640 on, he became the determined opponent of Monothelitism, the heretical
teaching that Jesus Christ had only one will. In this, he followed the example of
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, who was the first to combat this heresy starting in 634. Max-
imus supported the Orthodoxy of Rome on this matter and is said to have exclaimed: "I
have the faith of the Latins, but the language of the Greeks." He argued for Dyothlitism,
the Orthodox teaching that Jesus Christ possessed two wills (one divine and one human),
rather than the one will posited by Monothelitism.
After Pyrrhus, the temporarily deposed Monothelite Patriarch of Constantinople, had
declared his defeat in a dispute at Carthage (645), Maximus obtained the heresy's con-
demnation at several local synods in Africa, and also worked to have it condemned at
the Lateran Council of 649. He was brought to Constantinople in 653, pressured to ad-
here to the Typos of Emperor Constans II. Refusing to do so, he was exiled to Thrace. (Pope St. Martin of Rome was tried around the same time in Constantinople, and thus deposed
and exiled to Crimea.)
In 661 Maximus again was brought to the imperial capital and questioned; while there,
he had his tongue uprooted and his right hand cut off (to prevent him from preaching or
writing the true faith), and then was again exiled to the Caucasus, but died shortly there-
after.
Ultimately, Maximus was exonerated by the Sixth Ecumenical Council and recognized as
a Father of the Church.